Audio Amplifier, advice please

[Tchucolate]

Hey, I have some external, non-aplified speakers (Apple G4 speakers from back in day), and I wish to use these with my MiSTer. I have tried these, and pretty much no audio could be heard. Well, maybe a tiny dribble :/

I'm not an audiophile, but reading reviews of various portable amps, it seems there are a few options to get the autdio into the amps

• 3.5mm Sterio headphone type jacks
  USB

Now, I have the USB exansion board, but I am assuming that either this is not hooked up in some physical way, or that the OS drivers do not support USB to an external DAC and AMP. Am I right here? I also recall some issues with certain cores working with the TOSLINK out, whilst the 3.5mm jack seems to work universally.

So, should I be looking for ONLY amps with a 3.5mm jack in, because these are actually relatively rare these days.

Also, if others DO have their MiSTers hooked up to a portable Amp and then on to speakers, please do give your own experiences and recommendations.

[mhartman]

I use this amp in my arcade cab: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01MYTZGYM

[buttersoft]

You can always split out a 3.5mm jack into two RCA plugs - might give you a few more options? There are tons of cheap amps on Ebay or Aliexpress, you could start looking at some cheap Lepai ones, taking their power ratings with a grain of salt of course. They'll certainly get you going.

[Crystal]

do you have an IO board with headphone jack? if not, get yourself something like SMSL SH-1 or Lindy HDMI Audio Extractor and then get an appropriate speaker amp for your speakers

[jca]

I have this one:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B087PG2LVY/
It can be powered by a wide range of voltages, gives about 10W with 12V. It has a 3.5mm jack and also Bluetooth. If a device connects to it via Bluetooth it automatically switches to that input so you can use it both for MISTer and as a Bluetooth speaker.

[Tchucolate]

I have this one:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B087PG2LVY/
It can be powered by a wide range of voltages, gives about 10W with 12V. It has a 3.5mm jack and also Bluetooth. If a device connects to it via Bluetooth it automatically switches to that input so you can use it both for MISTer and as a Bluetooth speaker.

Looks like a cool device. Not available on Amazon here in UK. Also, it appears to only have bare wire outputs. I DO have a set of speakers that I could use with that, IF I could buy it here. But in my case, I was looking for something with AUX 3.5mm IN and 3.5mm OUT as well

[mikekim]

Pickup an smsl class d amplifier https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B06VWT6C14/ excellent quality sound.
Will require a stereo 3.5mm to rca phono cable

[aberu]

For reference I have an Analog I/O board and this is how I send the audio out. Analog I/O (https://misteraddons.com/products/io-bo ... h-heatsink) --> Mini-TOSLink to TOSLink cable (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00T8HWUVS/) --> DAC (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07ZPYS818/) --> nice powered speakers (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N33WUJ9/)

If I were in your situation though and wanting a DAC/AMP combo that can drive speakers, get the same MiniTOSlink to TOSlink cable above, or something comparable, and get this Micca amp:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LXV4O6B/

That way you send optical out from the MiSTer I/O board, and convert to analog with properly powering the speakers.

[Tchucolate]

For reference I have an Analog I/O board and this is how I send the audio out. Analog I/O (https://misteraddons.com/products/io-bo ... h-heatsink) --> Mini-TOSLink to TOSLink cable (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00T8HWUVS/) --> DAC (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07ZPYS818/) --> nice powered speakers (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N33WUJ9/)

If I were in your situation though and wanting a DAC/AMP combo that can drive speakers, get the same MiniTOSlink to TOSlink cable above, or something comparable, and get this Micca amp:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LXV4O6B/

That way you send optical out from the MiSTer I/O board, and convert to analog with properly powering the speakers.

Sage advice there. I did not consider using TOSLink, rather went with more old-school 3.5mm Jack. My thinking was, overall there is little to be gained from using optical, as we are talking RETRO sound here. Basically, STEREO at best, and sometimes, especially with olde arcade, MONO. I have ordered a multi Headphone amp with this in mind, cheap as chips, and it may suck. If it does, Ill take a look at the TOSLink combo above.

[Tchucolate]

BTW, I did try one of these
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01N905VOY/

A USB DAC/Amp, but nothing came out on the MiSTer. To be honest, I did not expect it to work, but gave it a go anyway.

It was actually purchased for another project, where it SHOULD work i.e. G4 Cube Macintosh, which has no standard audio out, and relied on a USB amp back in the day.

[aberu]

USB DAC/AMP's that are acquiring the digital signal via the USB port require a USB Audio device driver, which since the MiSTer's FPGA directly handles the audio out to the GPIO for the I/O boards, and simultaneously out to the HDMI port, there is no typical USB Audio device driver being used for audio. In fact, according to binarybond007 in a conversation we had about this awhile ago, there is no audio being passed through onto the linux side of things at all currently on the MiSTer.

So in short, you won't be able to use that kind of DAC. The DAC I posted is just powered by USB, but the digital signal is from Optical, so it will work as long as you plug into the optical port on the I/O board

The reason I went with the optical solution instead is because I'm a bit of an audiophile and the 3.5mm jack has a ton of noise. I had hooked it up to my Schiit headphone amplifier so it was a very pure signal to my decent headphones and it was really too much for me.On CRT speakers you won't be able to hear it much, but on headphones or nice newer speakers you would definitely hear the EMI static. It gets especially loud when you load a game or core.

[Topbravo]

Any chance that Bluetooth audio might be supported? Would be cool to use Bluetooth headphones without a 3.5mm BT adapter.

[Moondandy]

It has been said before that we won't get USB or Blue Tooth audio out from the MiSTer I am afraid.

HDMI or optical are your best options, avoid 3.5mm if you can.

BTW, I did try one of these
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01N905VOY/

A USB DAC/Amp, but nothing came out on the MiSTer. To be honest, I did not expect it to work, but gave it a go anyway.

It was actually purchased for another project, where it SHOULD work i.e. G4 Cube Macintosh, which has no standard audio out, and relied on a USB amp back in the day.

I don't know if you found a solution in the end, but this would be a pretty cheap one. Topping make very good for the price small amps (and dacs). I have one similar to this (although mine is also a USB DAC, and there were some models which did optical as well).
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/115210721307 ... SwmBNh4LJi

With that you could get a cheap optical to RCA DAC, I got this for £13 and it works very well, and powers fine from my MiSTer USB hub. I just run an optical cable from the Digital iO board then RCA to my Topping Amp.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00 ... UTF8&psc=1

It is a shame Topping stopped making the USB DACs combined with amps, as mine works well as I can switch from it being audio from my computer to being for my MiSTer.